Bus-shelter Advertising. BYO wetsuit...

These days its hard to sit at a bus shelter without seeing someone with headphones in their ears, taking a call or glued to their phone texting frantically in order to pass the time. The times when people talked and interacted at bus stops or train stations has gone and now people would prefer to look busy and avoid eye contact with other rather than enjoying a 5 minute break or have a chat with a fellow public transport user.

A few weeks ago in class Wags discussed the concept of Bus Shelter interactive marketing strategies. I thought the idea of the side of a bus shelter dispensing free fruit juices was brilliant so I had a further look into the idea of interactive marketing at tram, train and bus stops, and some of the results were truly inspired!

Here are a few engaging creative and innovative techniques used for bus shelter across the world.

Guarana Sports Drink, soccer net shelter in Brazil.

Virtual Oven to keep commuters toasty warm while they wait.

Everyone loves choice!

These innovative advertising strategies are genius! Rather than advertisers putting capital into mediocre print advertisements that end up vandalised with a black graffiti tag covering their main message, it is far more successful to execute an eye-catching and engaging marketing creation. These bus shelters may only be one-off developments however the media attention and social buzz that can occur from having even just one of these, can be far more successful than an average print advertisments plastered on the sides of countless bus shelters. Take the in-text photos for example, Teens take photos and upload them to Facebook, adults enjoy a nostaligic experience of kicking a soccer ball while trying to aim at the sports drink brand (reinforcement) and commuters may even change their regular route  to the oven bus shelter to keep warm in the colder months. All of these post experience actions reenforce the brand, the product and the image.

 The bus shelter I want to focus on for the purpose of E-Marketing is a highly interactive electronic marketing tool designed by 'Inwindow Outdoor', advertising the Monterey Bay Aquarium in San Francisco. This virtual fish tank is a transformed bus shelter that in fully decorated to simulate an underwater scene, including a fake kelp roof. It also allows people to virtually experience a 150 ft dive into an underwater world! Along the virtual dive they see different creatures an at the end of the descent a prompter asks you to pose for a photo which is then electronically sent as an underwater postcard to your email or Facebook. The results from this campaign were phenomenal with 32,000 unique interactions were recorded and over 43,000 people posed to have their photos taken. And the best part, only 13 bus shelters were used.

I would absolutely love to see more fun interactive marketing techniques like these around. I think they are a brilliant way to communicate the brands image and increase the likelihood of brand recognition.

Let me know if you have seen anything like this around, I would love to check out some more :)

Bob Dylan, 71 years young...

Bob Dylan, 35 studio albums and still full of surprises!

An influential music icon for over 50 years proves that he can still create a buzz. Bob Dylan’s thirty-fifth studio album, Tempest was released September 10 2012 however fans were able to have a sneak peek or listen to his new tracks. 

In 10 countries around the world, certain locations were marked on a map and released on a website named www.listentobobdylan.com. At these locations fans were able to stream the new tracks direct to their mobile devices using the smart phone app ‘SOUND GRAFFITI’. Only when fans are in the “Tempest-Tagged” geographic area, can they stream a random track as well as pre-order the full album. 

The Tempest locations around the globe are painted with an artistic street piece of his album cover (as featured below). The Tempest locations can be found in the US, Australia, Brazil, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands.

This innovative sales technique may be a creative new way for artists to get their music out there. An engaging marketing idea may solve the issue of closing physical CD stores such as Sanity, as we have seen online music sharing, downloading and online music stores such as iTunes take over the music industry.

Although some may say that Bob Dylan’s fans are not part of the tech-savvy generation, he has found a means to reach out to younger fans in a ground-breaking new way. His first, self-titled album was released in 1962, and after 35 studio albums, 13 live albums, 58 singles and 13 compilation albums he still has music to share, and sharing he is.

Raising awareness, re-inventing his personal brand and continuing his music career, the 71 year old artist is far from laying his guitar to rest. He has proven that he still deserves the spotlight and I hope he is paying his marketing team well because this campaign is brilliant. 

I might have to go for a stroll in the city, because 289 Wellington St, Melbourne has his name on it, and I’m all ears.

Can anyone catch Coke?

Coca Cola, one of the greatest marketing firms of all time. Still holding the number one position as the most valuable brand in the world, valued at $77.9billion.

We saw the share a Coke campaign go viral in the supermarkets and online. If you couldn't find your name or a friends name on the shelf in Coles or Woolies, you could jump on Facebook and generate a virtual personalized can to share instead. The campaign saw a 7% increase in sales and roughly 18,300,000 mediaimpressions, making 2011 summer the most successful summer on record for Coke.

We eagerly anticipated what would be the next campaign for Coke, and it's here. The Share a Coke, Share a Song campaign is an interactive mix between drinking and singing. Each coke bottle now features labels with ayear from 1938-2012, (1938 was when Coke was introduced locally). The label also features a URL link or a QR code (that can be scanned using a smart phone) that links to 50 songs from that year, which you can stream and then share to your friends.  

In an age where music file sharing is so popular, why not jump on the bandwagon and do it with a Coke in your hand. To make this possible Coke have partnerd up with Music Sharing site, Spotify.

It will be interesting to see how this campaign performs against last years figures. Will people find it a hassle to get online and follow up or will it be another success story for the genius brand we call Coca Cola?